James Franco to direct stage play on this, the stage that is life

Addressing one of the few remaining non-spanking disciplines to not yet be appended to James Franco’s name, life’s undecided major James Franco will direct his first genuine stage play that doesn’t involve getting compliments from Tennessee Williams’ ghost, and differs from our everyday traipsing the stage that all the world is and, occasionally, jizzing on the proscenium. Franco’s theatrical directing debut was announced in the New York Times, whose Ben Brantley will hopefully not be sent to review Franco’s production of The Long Shrift, July 7 through August 23, at the city’s Rattlestick Playwrights Theater. The Robert Boswell-written play concerns a convict recently released from prison, where he spent time after being accused of rape as a teenager. Presumably in Franco’s version, he’s released after clearing his name with a short story about he totally didn’t sleep with that teenager.